Majki

I must say that I have watched the movie on the internet, although I have seen all Mancheski's films in cinema. All of the negative reviews I have heard or read I guess formed my opinion in negative manner, although the movie is fair – nice story happening at the end of the world, in Europe outside of Europe. I usually have opposed opinion compared to the rest of the world but this time I need to agree with the strata. This movie is so subjective, not presenting reality, but used as a pursuit of atonement of the author for I believe his personal struggles with his homeland, or career that could have been brilliant in the period after Before the Rain. Also, as Macedonian and Serbian native speaker (for some reason most of the vocal songs in the film are in Serbian) I found it difficult to understand certain dialects, which I believe it could have been prevented if the participants in the movie were prepared before filming.

No doubts one of the best directors of our time, Milcho Manchevski's work in Mothers is surprisingly vague and leaves the viewer with a lot to be desired. Three separate linear stories, one of them being a documentary about a real life situation involving a serial killer from Kicevo filmed in "Spike Lee joint" style, fall short of conveying the message Milcho wanted viewers to see and feel. The documentary part of the movie (which is the best) is rather a standalone movie instead of an integral part of Mothers. Milcho's approach to the story about the serial killer from Kicevo is interesting and disturbing at the same time - you are presented with interviews of real people who were involved in the case (lawyers, forensic experts, police officers, prison managers, judges, relatives of victims and killer etc.) and they are all unedited, thus one can see the under-the-average cultural and intellectual level of the Macedonian society. This is the interesting part, the disturbing part is the exploitation of the relatives of the victims and the killer (his wife) who answer rather private and intimate questions about themselves and the victim/killer. Yet, this remains and is the best thing the viewer could expect from the movie. The other two stories - little girls in mischief and young people filming a documentary in Mariovo lack good acting (except the old man and the old lady in the Mariovo part) and fail to produce any intensity or controversy as intended.

Milcho is an excellent director but this movie does not contain any of his success ingredients like in past achievements.

"Mothers", Manchevski's fourth movie, is a three-part movie which grabs your attention from the beginning till the end, slowly building the tension which culminates in the last, third part. Although the director uses experimental approach here by mixing two fictional parts with one documentary, it doesn't feel too artsy or too "weird" at all, it's just an interesting collage of three stories that connect only thematically with each other. Raw documentary-like approach to the cinematography as it is needed here and it looks beautiful. The music is very emotional - old folk songs from this part of the world in a new arrangements that feel great mixed with the visuals. Artist like Milcho would never give you everything on plate, he wants us to be a part of the whole experience that this movie offers to us with our interpretations of the messages the author is serving using his writing and visual skills. After credits roll by it will make you think about many issues and questions Milcho raises with his latest offering like the truth and the nature of truth and how mothers are connected to the story in these three parts. Be sure you wont be able to easy forget what you see here, especially that last documentary part about the serial killer and his victims which is masterfully done.

Human Condition

Already in his unforgettable and highly influential Before the Rain; but also in his Cult Western Dust, Milcho Manchevski has used documentary elements for his cinematic storytelling to blur the lines between fact and fiction; as if he was telling his audiences "look; the fiction is always part of the reality, its only how we arrange things and how we construct the story, that makes the difference." In Mothers, that premiered at the TIFF 2010 and stunned audiences there, Manchevski takes these ideas to the extreme: Mothers is a film triptych, containing two fictional and one documentary segment - each of them telling more than one story: a girl who falsely reports a flasher to the police and causes violence to the innocent young man. A film crew of three who sets out for the ever so beautiful Macedonian mountains, documenting old customs and meeting an odd and grumpy brother and sister, who haven't been talking to each other, even though they are the only ones left in the middle of nowhere for years. The 'real' story of numerous old woman in the Macedonian town of Kicevo, who have been raped murdered by a long life neighbor. The horror of the events; as documented by their families and friends, the police and the authorities. Each part stands on its own - only at the end these almost not connected parts come together: Evolving from the single lie of the young girl in the first segment to the numerous different voices in the last part; Manchevski evokes a panomaratic view of life, dozens of stories, with – in spite of all the joy - human capability for destruction lurking always in the realm of the possible. What we take as fact or as fiction is the disturbing and difficult question Manchevski poses upon his audiences; also what to do with these experiences in our lives is not easy to answer at the end. Maybe the last frame of the film can give can give a hint: The young girl; lying upside down on the table at the police station, taking photos with her mobile phone; voiced over by the documentary film team: we film to document; to keep the memory. Even it might be a lie, or a picture turned upside down; we cant help but go on with our lives and work, searching for the truth against all odds. We have to consider Sisiphos a happy man (Albert Camus). Once again, Manchevski has opened his unique and multilayered cinematic world for us: always thought provoking and permanently questioning what he is doing as a filmmaker working in a medium, that can manipulate so easily and is predesignated to all to fast and easy answers.

Again three stories in one film in his fourth work-Mothers.It seems, this is the Mancevski s' favorite still of making films. Two fiction stories and the one documentary is the basic plot in the "Mother" The film starts with two girls making up a version of reporting a flasher,a plot of their evil imagination,whоse behavior appear to had learned by the environment or by their mothers perhaps...innocent person is accused! The second stories is about young filmmakers traveling around magnificent but abounded villages making a documentary about people living there. And eventually,the third story is а documentary about serial killer and the tragic events in the small provincial town,with the authentic people involved into. Everybody who saw his previous films are informed about his taste and willingness to make the audience confused and meant.The circle of the events in the film and the final point. -The first story about falsely accused man suggest that, maybe the sane events happen in the third story only this time the circumstances are different and the crime is real. -Milcho Manchecski knows Macedonian mentality perfectly well, particularly well expressed in "Before the rain" and "Shadows",in this case very good described in the second story and maybe, when i think a little bit more, even in the first story the things are happening. -Eventually,the loneliness, the worst enemy of human kin is the subject of "Mothers".The real killer and spiritual enemy that particularly came in Macedonia along with transition. Although Manchevski claims that his still of narration is more Еuropеan then American,i am sure after all his works his film language is typical American.But this is not important,what important is that he really trying do something here and he is not bad. After "Shadows" this film of his is the real relief. "Dust" is not the bad movie but is kin of too much. "Before the rain" according to me is the one of the most significant films made in the 90-is along with few others foreign films and most definitеly one of my top ten films ever. Mothers-worth watching!